Champion Chiefs Runners-up No More
March 7, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
CANTON – Second place. Second place. Second place.
For three seasons, Canton fell just short of ending Grand Ledge’s hold on the MHSAA gymnastics championship.
On Friday, Canton finished a quest coach John Cunningham started 35 years ago – and claimed its first MHSAA title. The Chiefs scored 146.650 points, 2.4 more of Grand Ledge, to break the Comets’ six-season championship streak.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that it’s true,” said senior Melissa Green, who with Erica Lucas were part of all three runner-up teams as well. “I really felt like we had a chance every year I’ve been on the team. … We just wanted to get better. We knew if we got better, we would score better, just do better.”
Cunningham has coached girls gymnastics longer than Canton has had a team – and longer than the MHSAA has sponsored the sport.
He began in 1968, and took over the Chiefs in 1979. They finished runner-up one other time, in 1996. And they got really close in 2012, falling just .825 points back of the Comets.
Cunningham knew by comparing scores during the regular season that his team would have another shot Friday. After having to count three falls on beam, the Chiefs came back with a 37.900 on floor and a 37.300 on vault to take a five-point lead heading into their and Grand Ledge’s final rotations.
The Comets finished on vault and put together a 37.300, coming together after every successful landing to celebrate as they cut the deficit in half. Sophomore Rachel Hogan landed a vault she’s been inconsistent with for a 9.8, and sophomore Lexi Payne scored a 9.025 on a vault coach Duane Haring said she’s been landing “two percent” of the time.
But Canton held on with a 35.250 on bars to finish up and keep the edge in the final standings.
“The real quality of my team is depth. The hardest thing I had to do this week was take two girls out,” Cunningham said. "We sat girls who were getting 9s. … I had three all-arounders, and then I set the lineup with what was strongest.”
Junior Jocelyn Moraw scored an all-around 37.325 for Canton, followed by sophomore Maddie Toal at 36.725 and Green with a 36.225. Lucas and three more sophomores filled out the lineup, with Lucas contributing a 9.325 on vault. “We’ve been working hard the entire season, getting skills we never thought we’d be able to get before," Green said.
Grand Ledge has a pair of contenders for Saturday’s Division 1 individual championship, and both shined in the Team Final. Hogan scored an all-around 38.600, while senior Presley Allison – last season’s Division 2 individual champ – added a 37.650.
Farmington, the 2010 runner-up, just missed returning to the top two by finishing five hundredths of a point behind the Comets to take third. Sophomore Carina Wright scored an all-around 36.275 and senior Meredith Jonik added a 36.125.
The second-place finish ends another incredible run for Grand Ledge. Before Friday, the Comets had won 106 straight competitions – dual meets and invitationals combined – dating to the 2007 MHSAA Team Final, where they finished runner-up to Holt.
“You add up all the teams, and that’s hundreds. We’re not ashamed of anything,” Haring said. “Nothing lasts forever. Second place after we were in fifth place after three events? There’s nothing to be ashamed of at all on this team.
“They knew what they needed to try to tighten the gap for second place. They never gave up. … They were going to fight to the end.”
Grosse Pointe United finished fourth, led by Isabelle Nguyen’s all-around 37.725. Grand Rapids Forest Hills was fifth, with Cassidy Terhorst scoring a 36.825.
PHOTOS: (Top) Canton's Melissa Green finishes her routine on floor during Friday's MHSAA Team Final. (Middle) Grand Ledge finished second Friday, ending a six-season championship streak but continuing an eight-season streak of top-two finishes. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Farmington Aims to Repeat, Perfectly
February 18, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Special for Second Half
Seniors on the Farmington United gymnastics team haven’t lost a dual meet during their high school careers.
So when longtime coach Jeff Dwyer rested some of his standouts against Grosse Pointe United two weeks ago, and his team then found itself locked in a meet too close to call until the very end, well …
“They were not happy,” Dwyer recalled.
Farmington United – a co-op of Farmington High, North Farmington and Farmington Hills Harrison, and the reigning MHSAA Finals champion – did manage to pull out the win that night. And Dwyer now knows his athletes have made a perfect season one of their goals this winter.
Perfection is not a goal he sets for his teams. But it’s one he certainly can appreciate.
“When a team is driven like that, I know they’re talking amongst themselves,” Dwyer said. “When you have a core group that works hard and knows they can be one of the top teams in the state, and they go hard, that’s awesome.”
And Farmington United has been awesome – and then some. The MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for January will enter Wednesday’s dual against Salem with the opportunity to finish a perfect regular season, and should be the favorite to win Regional and Finals championships next month.
United closed January with its third straight championship at the Jeanne Caruss Invitational at White Lake Lakeland, scoring a season-high 147.325 – nearly three points more than last season’s MHSAA Finals-winning total.
The following weekend, United won the annual Canton Invitational, generally considered a preview of the Finals, by more than three points.
United graduated two-time Division 2 individual champion Elisa Bills and another strong contributor in Emily Stecevic last spring, but has been keyed in part by junior addition Elena Vargo – an expected contender for the Division 1 all-around championship next month.
She joined a veteran group of standouts paced by senior Kacey Noseworthy (tied for third in Division 2 in 2018), senior Ava Farquhar (seventh), sophomore Sydney Schultz (12th) and sophomore Allison Schultz (20th), plus senior Shelby Smith, who posted two top-20 event finishes in Division 2 in 2018.
“They got the experience from last year, which was huge,” Dwyer said. “That's invaluable. That makes life a lot easier, because they know what it takes and they're pretty serious about it.”
Dwyer has coached at the high school level since 1987 and took over the Tri-Farmington program in 1994. He led Tri-Farmington to three straight MHSAA championships from 2004-06.
As his current team goes for a second straight title, he’s noticed similarities to last decade’s champs in his current gymnasts’ competitiveness, determination and work ethic.
"This group, to carry over from last year to this year, it’s not just the coaches but the girls were determined to make something happen again this year,” Dwyer said. “It helped a ton getting Elena. But you still gotta count four scores in every category.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2018-19
December: Warren Woods-Tower wrestling – Read
November: Rochester Adams girls swimming & diving – Read
October: Leland boys soccer – Read
September: Pickford football – Read
August: Northville girls golf – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Kacey Noseworthy is among high Finals placers from 2018 hoping to lead Farmington United to a second straight team championship next month. (Middle) Elena Vargo, here competing on beam, has added plenty of big scores to the mix this winter. (Photos by Roger Playle.)